


Love is Love

by tlakht



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Asexual Castiel (Supernatural), Bisexual Dean Winchester, Fluff, M/M, Openly Bisexual Dean Winchester, Panromantic Castiel (Supernatural), Pride, Pride Parades
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 09:10:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19147963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tlakht/pseuds/tlakht
Summary: Cas wondered if it had been a mistake to decide to join the Pride parade. He wasn’t sure he even really belonged; his ace flag was the only one he could see amidst a sea of rainbow flags, bi flags, trans flags and other flags he didn’t recognise.Everyone around him seemed to be having a great time, cheering and dancing with their friends, singing along to the music from the nearest float and waving their flags and banners high in the air. Cas had thought that maybe he, too, would get into the spirit of things, the way everyone seemed to during Pride, but it turned out it was possible to feel lonely even in the midst of a parade full of happy, exuberant people.





	Love is Love

Cas wondered if it had been a mistake to decide to join the Pride parade. He wasn’t sure he even really belonged; his ace flag was the only one he could see amidst a sea of rainbow flags, bi flags, trans flags and other flags he didn’t recognise.

Everyone around him seemed to be having a great time, cheering and dancing with their friends, singing along to the music from the nearest float and waving their flags and banners high in the air. Cas had thought that maybe he, too, would get into the spirit of things, the way everyone seemed to during Pride, but it turned out it was possible to feel lonely even in the midst of a parade full of happy, exuberant people. He looked at the nearest banner, proclaiming that “LOVE IS LOVE”, reminding him that what most of the other people were celebrating was  _love_ , something Cas didn’t even know if he’d ever get to experience with someone.

Someone bumped into his shoulder; clearly he was as invisible as he felt, and he muttered an apology – although it hadn’t been his fault – and pulled away, only to get a hand clapped onto the same shoulder instead.

“Cas, hey.”

Cas knew that voice. He’d know it anywhere, and his heart started beating faster as he turned to look at Dean, who he went to college with, and who he’d assumed was as straight as they came. Who was, apparently – judging by his rainbow feather boa and his pink, purple and blue t-shirt – anything but.

“Dean,” was all Cas managed to say, but it didn’t stop Dean from smiling at him, like he always did.

“Fancy meeting you here. What flag is that?” Dean nodded to the black, grey, white and purple flag Cas was almost dragging into the ground by now, and he quickly raised it again.

“Oh.” Cas wasn’t ashamed of his asexuality, per se, but he hadn’t really spoken to anyone about it either. Not to mention it was kind of unnerving to tell the boy he liked that he wasn’t interested in sex. “Um. It’s the asexual flag.”

This time, it was Dean who responded with, “Oh,” and then his face fell a little. “Yeah, uh. Cool.”

It was obvious that Dean did  _not_  think it was cool, and Cas felt mortified all of a sudden. “Is that not… do I not belong here?” He glanced around, once again only catching sight of colourful flags rather than his own monochrome-plus-purple one.

“What?” Dean looked at him with what appeared to be genuine surprise, as if he couldn’t fathom why Cas would think that. “What are you talking about? Of course you do.”

“Then why–” Cas had uttered before he could even stop himself. “Um. Why did you seem so…?”

He watched Dean’s cheeks turn red, although he couldn’t fathom why, and then Dean rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “So disappointed, you mean?” Head bent, he gave a self-conscious sort of chuckle and dropped his hand again. “I, uh… I might have hoped your flag meant you were into dudes one way or another, and that I might be able to ask you out.”

Cas’s heart stopped in his chest. “I am,” he blurted. “Into… ‘dudes’. In one way, just… not the other.” He felt his own ears heat until he was sure they matched Dean’s cheeks. It didn’t matter that Dean had wanted to ask him out, he needed to remind himself. Dean was probably not interested in a sex-less relationship.

“Wait, what? I thought… Okay, so you like guys, you just don’t want to bang them?”

Cas nodded. “I am panromantic as well as asexual. I can fall in love with someone, regardless of their gender, but…” His stomach flipped at the thought of who that “someone” was, and he drew a breath and held it for a moment. “You’re right, I’m not interested in sex.” He turned away from Dean and pretended to look at the guy in front of them wearing stilts and long, rainbow-coloured pants. He felt no need whatsoever to watch Dean decide he couldn’t ask Cas out after all.

“Okay,” Dean said slowly, as if he was trying to make sense of it all in his head. Cas couldn’t blame him; he’d spent years on trying to make sense of it himself, so it was only natural that Dean would need a moment to piece it together. He surprised Cas, however, by continuing after just a moment, “And, um. If I asked you to go out on a date with me…”

Cas’s heart skipped a beat, causing him to simultaneously trip over his feet, and Dean steadied him, looking exactly as flustered as Cas felt.

“If you asked me to go out on a date with you…?” He prompted, feeling breathless, hoping Dean’s next words wouldn’t be a question about whether he’d be willing to have sex anyway.

“Would you say yes?”

Cas tried to quiet his beating heart; there was something he needed to know before he could answer. “Are you okay with… you know?” He waved his ace flag a little to emphasise what he meant. He couldn’t risk going on a date with Dean only to end up disappointed.

“Dude,” Dean huffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders forward as if preparing himself for Cas reacting badly to what he was about to say. “I’ve been into you for over two years now.” He looked up as if to check that Cas wasn’t freaking out – which he was, quietly, on the inside, but not for the reason Dean might think.

“And it’s not because I thought I’d get into your pants,” Dean continued. “I’m into  _you,_  Cas, not what’s between your legs. Besides, y'know, I’ve got my trusty right hand, and there’s always toys to switch things up.” He immediately looked horrified at what had come out of his mouth. “Shit, sorry, is that inappropriate to say to you? Do you not want to hear about–”

Cas shut him up by grabbing his hand. “Dean.” He couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “I would love to go out with you.”

 ~~~ 

 "Babe? You ready to go?“

"In a minute,” Cas answered distractedly. “Have you seen my flag anywhere?” It had been on the living room table the last time he’d seen it – or so he thought – but now there was no sign of it anywhere in the living room at all.

“Yeah, I think I saw it in the bedroom.”

Cas turned around and saw what Dean had chosen to wear for the parade, and he couldn’t help but smile. “Your old bi pride shirt? You don’t think it’s a couple of sizes too small?”

“You calling me fat, Cas?”

“Never.” Cas walked over to his boyfriend, placing his hands above Dean’s hips and caressing the extra padding that had appeared there over the years. “You’re as beautiful as you were ten years ago.”

Dean snorted. “Liar. But at least I don’t look like a twink anymore. Come on, go get your flag.”

Cas headed toward the bedroom – and stopped in the doorway. On the bed was his ace flag, yes, but Dean’s bi flag was there as well, the two forming a diagonal cross, and on the wooden stick on each of them was… something shiny. Something metal?

“Dean,” he said, his voice coming out with a fine tremor – he’d imagined this moment probably hundreds of times, but it turned out he still wasn’t prepared enough to keep his cool. “Dean, are those…?”

When he turned around, he found Dean standing right behind him, looking as nervous as he had when he’d first asked Cas out.

“Go and find out,” Dean said, a gentle hand guiding Cas in the direction of the bed, and Cas went willingly.

“Oh,” he said when he got a closer look. “Oh, Dean, they’re beautiful.” He picked up the ace flag without sliding the ring off. “Is this mine?”

“If you want it to be.” Dean’s shrug was anything but nonchalant.

“I think… I want you to put it on my finger,” Cas said, a happy laugh making its way out his throat as he felt tears well up in his eyes, and with a reaction much like Cas’s, Dean slid the ring off the wooden stick and onto Cas’s waiting finger with shaking hands.

And when they walked in the parade, Cas cheered like never before and held his flag extra high, his new ring glinting in the sunlight while he felt Dean’s pressed against the fingers of his other hand, a testament to what they meant to each other and a promise of a lifetime to come. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> Find the fic on tumblr [here](https://tlakht.tumblr.com/post/185450859255/love-is-love) if you want to help a writer out by reblogging ♥


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